From laser printers, to inkjet and wireless varieties, home printers are more advanced than ever before. In our online world, there’s still something to be said for the convenience of having a home printer, whether that’s for hard copies of important documents, forms that need to be signed, homework assignments or treasured images.

Latest innovations mean you can now wirelessly print straight from your smartphone, reduce expense and impact on the environment with continuous ink tank printers (which negate the need for replacing costly plastic ink cartridges), and produce high-quality posters, pictures and more with specialist photo printers. 

So whether you’re looking for a new inkjet multifunction printer or a laser printer, these are the latest innovations that will change the way you print.

Print Smarter With a Wireless Printer

Wireless printing means the ability to print from anywhere in the house or office where you have a working connection from your device to your internet network. Plus, it means you can print straight from phones and tablets without sending a document or image to a computer first. One way is to open a file or photo on your handheld device, click the share button and look if there is an option to print (you’ll need to make sure your phone or tablet is connected to the same WiFi network as your printer.)

Another is to choose a printer that comes with its own companion app (including for Canon, Epson and HP printers) to make printing from your mobile device even easier. Some of these apps also provide the ability to print straight from your social media accounts, create custom greeting cards or even turn photos into colouring book templates for the kids. 

A Gif of three wireless printers to consider including the Canon Pixma all in One, an Epson EcoTank and a Brother Inkvestment printer.

What to Try:

SEE ALSO: The Best Home Office Printer and Printers for Small Business 

2. Print More Economically with an Ink Tank Printer

It’s not just the price of the printer you should consider but the cost of the consumables, particularly how often you will have to replace ink cartridges. To make the ongoing costs of running a printer easier on the hip pocket, one clever innovation is the continuous ink tank printer. 

With ink tank printers, when you run out of ink, you only pay for a new ink bottle. Products like the Epson EcoTank printer use designated reservoirs for each of the printer colours and large ink bottles to fill them and come with enough ink to print thousands of pages. 

While ink tank printers may be more of an initial investment than regular inkjet printers, they’re good value in the long run as you save money on replacement cartridges. Plus, having to replace cartridges less often means fewer plastic cartridges going in the bin than with a non-ecotank printer.

A GIF of Ink Tank Printers including the Epson EcoTank, the HP Smart Tank and the Canon Maxify printers.

What to try:

SEE ALSO: Which Speaker Is Right for You? 

3. Print More Efficiently with Two-Sided Printing 

Two-sided printing, also known as duplex printing, will reduce the amount of printer paper you use, ultimately saving you money – by literally halving your paper costs.

But the biggest benefit of double-sided printing is the benefit to the environment. By using less paper to print, double-sided printers are more sustainable. Give your environmental credibility even more of a boost by sticking to recycled printer paper.

A Gif of double-sided printers including the Epson Expression, the Brother Inkjet and the OKI LED printer.

What to Try:

TIP: Use the Officeworks Ink & Toner Finder tool to easily find the consumables you need for your printer.

4. Print More Sustainably with Environmentally Friendly Printers 

Printers themselves are becoming more sustainable, as manufacturers look to incorporate more recycled materials into the units. The HP DeskJet 2720e All-In-One Printer, for example, contains more than 20 per cent recycled plastic, while the Lexmark B3442DW Mono Printer, made with paper-saving features such as automatic two-sided printing, is carbon-neutral certified by Climate Impact Partners. 

Even the packaging printers come in is changing in a positive way, with a move away from moulded polystyrene towards paper pulp and recycled cardboard, which can in turn be recycled again after you unpack your new printer. 

TIP: Officeworks “Bring it Back” program supports the Planet Ark ink cartridge recycling initiative with customers able to responsibly dispose of used cartridges in recycling bins in each store.

A GIF of environmentally-friendly printers, including the HP DeskJet, the Lexmark and the HP Envy printer.

What To Try

5. Print Pictures, Posters and More with Specialist Printers

Printing doesn’t need to be limited to hard copies of word documents. Specialist photo printers, including Polaroid printers, make it easy to print beautiful keepsakes for your wall, frames and albums. Label printers can also help perfect those DIY Christmas gifts or assist with setting up a side hustle. 

Even ordinary home printers offer a choice of paper trays, making it possible to print images from your smartphone onto excellent quality photo paper, card or other durable media for either business or home projects. And investing in a wide format printer (all the way from A3 printers to A0) is useful if your project means you need to print the likes of plans, maps, schematics or point-of-sale posters. 

A polaroid printer sits on a wooden desk alongside two polaroid photo prints and a plant in a vase. 

What To Try

Outsource Specialist Printing Services

If you don’t need these specialist printers regularly, another option is to use Officeworks’ comprehensive Print & Copy service, which can provide everything from passport photos to poster prints of your favourite images, as well as all your business needs such as promotional materials, business cards and other stationery. 

SEE ALSO: How to Make Your Business Marketing Materials Even Better  

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